Patricia Mukhim
Like everyone else in the country we are all exuberant about the Modi 2.0 Government which took oath of office yesterday. Our state leaders headed by the Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma have naturally flown to Delhi to be part of the grand celebrations. Our CM has in fact either been campaigning this whole year or attending swearing-in ceremonies. One is not aware of any other state chief minister who is also heading a political party that claims to be ‘national’ in character. This is simply not viable. Look at Amit Shah, the BJP President. He remained the Party’s chief organizer and vote catching machine throughout the entire period of the first Modi Government. Not so the National Peoples’ Party (NPP)! And while we can be upbeat about the new government at the Centre, the reality is that back home things are just not working. We seem to be short both on policy and delivery. Post May 30, the hype and hoopla will die down and we will all be looking at our state government with greater scrutiny and wondering if the change we voted for is visible in any of the development fronts.
But first things first! The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Government formed in March last year is a coalition of the NPP, UDP, HSPDP and PDF. At the national level the NPP is an alliance partner of the BJP and Conrad Sangma has never been diffident about stating that upfront. The problem is with the regional parties who are still trying to proclaim to the world that they have no truck with the BJP which they see as anti-minority. Indeed the BJP’s gau rakshak policy violates the tribal way of life, starting with tribal cuisine. Beef is and has been part of our diets from the time we were conscious of our existence. Khasi indigenous faith (NiamTre or Ka Niam Tynrai) are not the equivalent of Hinduism, so trying to force that affinity is incongruous. Tribals have no caste system which Hinduism continues to promote despite Dr Ambedkar’s unstinted fight for its abolition. Dalits continue to be at the lowest rung of the poverty pyramid. So the mainstream Indian way of life is still rife with exclusions. It is ironic today that the Hindus should feel estranged from the political system and that their vote for the BJP and Narendra Modi is to rekindle Hindu nationalism, if that is a fitting term. But what else do you name a political movement which is quintessentially religious in its approach?
So back to the regional parties! Prior to the 2018 Assembly elections, the regional parties had floated what they have always done – an ethnocentric political message that promises to safeguard the distinct cultures and way of life of the tribes. In that context we the people expected that the regional parties would have insisted on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) where the aspirations of the coalition partners and their pre-poll promises could be accommodated. Over a year has passed and the CMP seems to have been forgotten. It is business as usual in the Government and every party seems to have forgotten their promises to the people. They will probably go back after five years with the same undelivered promises. The tragedy is that people continue to be misled by the same set of politicians again and again.
Recently the UDP held a press conference to thank the voting public, but more than that, the aim of the prescon was to blame the Congress party for the defeat of the UDP candidate. That was totally unnecessary. Only insecure people blame others for their defeat. Most people spoken to had expressed their apprehension about voting for an ally of the BJP (let’s not pull the wool over peoples’ eyes and say the UDP is not with the BJP, because the MDA is, and, the umbilical cord is all joined up) because of the apprehension that if the BJP wins then the much touted Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) would become a reality. Perhaps the only guy with bravado is the BJP candidate Sanbor Shullai who publicly announced that he would ‘commit’ suicide if the CAB were to be imposed. The UDP did not tell the electorate how it was going to tackle the CAB whenever it is sought to be implemented. People vote their MP so that policies that affect us on the national scale are taken up in Parliament. Congress MP Vincent Pala was given that opportunity twice but he never really stood out for speaking in Parliament. Compare that to Kiren Rijiju when he was BJP MP during the Congress regime. He would hold forth in Parliament on various issues of the region. The only reason why Pala won this time is (a) because he continues to bat for the coal lobby which believes that he has their interests at heart (b) because people thought it better to vote Congress which might put up a fight, however weak, against the CAB. For now, we will have to wait and watch if Sanbor Shullai will keep his promise!
Now coming back to the MDA Government and its one year in office, there is really nothing to write home about. The HNLC has returned and is threatening to eliminate the non-tribals. That’s a daring threat from an outfit that police claim barely has 20 active cadres. Go to any shop in the city and the groan about extortion having gone up and the number of pressure groups added to the list of existing ones also has increased. I wonder if the Police are even aware of this and if they are then whether they are even bothered about curbing this menace because these are signs of lawlessness. In the past we have had Home Ministers who were vocal about issues that were brought to their notice. Now we have a silent Home Minister. Perhaps he is busy doing something else not related to his brief as Home Minister. He is also the Power Minister and the power scenario today is in shambles. Earlier we mumbled about the load shedding during winter months. Now it appears that we will have to bear with the load shedding throughout the year and for what? Because of the incompetence of the MeECL which will not trim its flab and is run like a Government Department? Consumers regularly pay their electricity bills and it’s not even a subsidized bill so where is the money going? Can this issue be taken up in the Assembly? Or will the consumers have to organise themselves into a mass movement and start by boycotting to pay their bills? Is this what the MDA Government wants? A revolution by peace loving citizens? Because the MDA Government will not stir otherwise? There has been no action that citizens can claim is geared towards making their lives a little better. If anyone has seen anything that’s worth mentioning they can correct me.
The only thing that this Government has done is to appoint a whole lot of advisors who are either not tasked to give advice or have no clear terms of reference about the kind of advice sought from them. They, of course have been added to the list of VIPs enjoying their perks from the public exchequer. And yes, the list of VIPs grows longer by the day. They throw their weight around using their sirens even when the road is chock-a-bloc with traffic.
So at the end of the day even the tribal MLAs/ministers whose origins were humble and who come from a culture that knows no class or caste have today become the new royalty. Indeed India after Independence is replaced by another set of royalty after having done away with the real royals who at least knew their place in society. This new set of royalty is crude and rapacious for power and pelf. Look at the ostentatious manner in which Andhra CM, Jaganmohan Reddy rode for his swearing in ceremony! Of us it is true to say that we have indeed landed from the frying pan into the fire.
The MDA Government will, however, be remembered for one thing and that is the worst ever mining disaster where 16 or 18 people (the exact numbers are still not known) were buried alive in a rat hole mine in Ksan, East Jaintia Hills in December last year followed by the most incompetent rescue operation. The rescue operation got traction only after a Delhi-based lawyer approached the Supreme Court on humanitarian grounds. By then it was too late to even retrieve the bodies. This is a Government of, by and for the coal lobby only. Up until now the only intervention made by the MDA Government is to put pressure on the Centre to lift the ban on coal mining. We have indeed gifted ourselves a classic government.